By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor Wrestling TV (Episode 437)
Taped January 11, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia at Center Stage
Aired February 1, 2020 in syndication and on SBG regional sports networks, available Mondays on FITE.TV
The opening video aired and then highlights were shown of the finish of Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus defeating Marty Scurll, Brody King, and Flip Gordon to win the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles…
Show hosts Ian Riccaboni and Quinn McKay checked in and hyped the three-way main event. Riccaboni spoke about the six-man tag title change and PCO being laid out by Rush and his allies. They also promoted the ROH Free Enterprise main event…
1. Dalton Castle and Joe Hendry vs. “Master & Machine” Griff Garrison and Marcus Cross. Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on commentary. A Castle and Hendry pre-tape aired. Fake Boys accompanied Castle to the ring. The teams adhered to the Code of Honor before the match. They cut to a break early in the match. [C]
Cross caught Castle with a standing double stomp and then dropped an elbow on him and got a two count. Later, Master & Machine hit their finisher on Hendry and got a good near fall. In the end, Cross springboarded over Castle and into a Codebreaker from Hendry. Castle followed up with a bulldog style move and scored the pin…
Dalton Castle and Joe Hendry beat “Master & Machine” Griff Garrison and Marcus Cross.
Powell’s POV: Master & Machine have been on two of the last three shows. While they are in an enhancement role, it’s strange that they have ended up getting more television time than a number of ROH regulars in recent weeks. The match was more competitive than I anticipated, but the expected team went over in the end.
A video package aired on Silas Young encouraging PJ Black to serve as the mentor for Brian Johnson for an eventual match with his protege Josh Woods. It included footage of Johnson declining Black’s mentorship and telling Black that he should be the one learning from him after he scored the pin in their match against Master & Machine… [C]
Backstage, Quinn McKay entered the Lifeblood locker room and spoke with Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams. Haskins spoke about being past his personal issue with Bully Ray and now focusing on becoming the ROH World Champion. Williams nodded along…
The hosts hyped ROH Free Enterprises and the new wrestlers coming to ROH. They also hyped the Nashville and St. Louis…
2. Danhausen vs. Rhett Titus. Brian Zane sat in on commentary. Danhausen brought his jar of human teeth with him. Titus grabbed the jar of teeth at one point. When Danhausen reached out to take them back, Titus punched him heading into a break. [C]
Danhausen did his Peewee Herman dance on the apron while working over Titus with kicks. Later, Titus went for a splash in the corner, but Danhausen avoided it. Danhausen springboarded over Titus and performed a nice German suplex. Danhausen grabbed his jar of teeth and poured them into the mouth of Titus, then hit him with a big boot for a near fall. A short time later, Titus caught Danhausen with a dropkick. Riccaboni said only Kazuchika Okada gets higher with his dropkicks. Titus scored the pin off the dropkick…
Rhett Titus beat Danhausen.
A graphic listed Rush, Dragon Lee, and Kenny King vs. PCO, Marty Scurll, and Brody King in a six-man tag match for next week… [C]
Powell’s POV: I don’t even remember the last time I saw a match end because of a dropkick, but the broadcast team did a nice job of putting over that Danhausen was knocked out as a result of the dropkick. Meanwhile, it may seem like a small thing, but it’s nice to see ROH get back to advertising a match for the next show.
Ring entrances for the main event took place…
3. Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe vs. Jeff Cobb and Dan Maff vs. Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams in a Triple Threat tag match. The Bouncers sat in on commentary for the match. The teams adhered to the Code of Honor. They took a break early in the match. [C]
They took another break with roughly seven minutes remaining in the show. The following recap is from my HonorClub viewing of the match: Late in the match, Williams had Mark Briscoe in a crossface. Jay grabbed Haskins and powerbombed him onto Williams to break the hold. Jay followed up with a Jay Driller on Williams and scored the pin…
Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe defeated Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams and Jeff Cobb & Dan Maff in a Triple Threat tag match.
Powell’s POV: The Briscoes were screwed out of getting a tag title shot by new champions Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham in the number one contenders match against Silas Young and Josh Woods. So it looks like the idea is to keep the Briscoes strong and build to that rematch, which is logical.
We were back to the traditional three match approach without any throwaway match highlights, which was a change for the better in my book. There were also some segments taped backstage, which is nice and gives HonorClub subscribers some incentive to watch the show aside from the undercard or enhancement matches they make exclusive to the television show.
I can’t stress enough that I am baffled by the decision not to stream Free Enterprise live and free rather than restricting it to HonorClub. It makes sense for most shows, but the idea of this event is to showcase the beginning of the new era of the company, so you’d think you’d want as many people to see it as possible. I’m sure they will air some of the matches on television eventually, but it’s just not the same as letting everyone enjoy the show live. I will have more to say about this episode in my weekly ROH audio review available exclusively for Dot Net Members.
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